January 1, 2019

On this Vigil for the Feast of Mary, Mother of God, I want to talk to you this evening about one of the two, greatest blessings that we have as Catholic Christians, to help us to keep following Jesus, and to protect us while we are making our way through this crazy world. The Blessing that I’d like to talk a little bit about tonight, is the Rosary. The “other” greatest blessing is the Eucharist, and we’ll save that one for another homily very soon.

I’d like to start out with a story that has been making its way around the internet these last few years, about the notorious serial killer, Ted Bundy. At 3 AM, on January 15th, 1978, Ted Bundy broke into Chi Omega sorority house, at Florida State University. After brutally raping and murdering two sorority sisters, and seriously injuring two others, Bundy opened the door to another girl’s room and entered, intending to beat her to death also with a bat. The young woman saw him open the door, and feared for her life. Suddenly the bat few out of Bundy’s hands, and he was stopped in his tracks. He turned around and left immediately. The young woman who was in a near catatonic state, refused to speak to anyone but a priest, so local priest Monsignor William Kerr was called to the scene. She told the priest, that when she went away to college that she had promised her mother that she would pray the Rosary each night before she went to bed. That night, she said that she had fallen asleep praying to Rosary, and in fact, still had the Rosary in her hand, when Ted Bundy entered her room. Years later when he was in prison on death row, after he had confessed to killing more than thirty young women, he had asked to speak to a priest before his execution. The priest that was sent to talk to Bundy was none other than Monsignor William Kerr, the same priest who was called to the sorority house that night in 1978. Bundy told the priest that when he opened to door to that young woman’s room, he had every intention of beating her to death, as he did the others, but when he entered the room, he encountered a “mysterious force” that stopped him from going in any farther. He recounted that he dropped the bat, and ran away. Ted Bundy had no idea what had happened to him that night. Now, can Mary really stop that kind of evil? Did Mary save that young woman’s life? Is praying the Rosary really that powerful of a protection? Well, Monsignor Kerr certainly believed so! And I gotta tell you on this Feast Day, so do I!

Padre Pio, excuse me, St. Pio of Pietrelcina, wrote that the Rosary is the weapon that can win all battles! Asking Mary’s intercession, by the praying of the Rosary, is one of the powerful tools that we have to fight evil in this world. The Rosary can stop the devil in his tracks. It has to make us wonder, why aren’t all Catholics, good Lord, why aren’t all Christians, praying the Rosary every day?

You know, today we celebrate Mary, as the Mother of God, Theotokos, “God-bearer”. And if Mary was really given to us, the Church, from Jesus on the cross, right before He died, how can we NOT take advantage of this great gift, this blessing, and accept her intercession and help? And there’s no better way to get that intercession and help, than by the praying of the Rosary!

It only takes 15 to 20 minutes to pray the whole thing. Why aren’t we praying the Rosary every day?

You know, today and tomorrow maybe we’re making our New Year’s resolutions. We need to ask ourselves, what is it, that we can do in this New Year, that is going to help us the most in 2019, to be better? What if all of us, put praying the Rosary at the top of our list of resolutions for the New Year? Could we stop a serial killer? Could we prevent war? Could we end abortion? Could we save marriage from divorce? Could we cure cancer? Could we purify the Church from the scandals that we have endured? The Rosary can fix all of our problems. It’s that powerful of a prayer! What’s it going to take, to get you to pray it, every day?

Make the Rosary YOUR resolution!

+ May God bless all of us , in 2019, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy